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For Ralph Krueger, being named head coach of the Edmonton Oilers right before a lockout was like getting the keys to a brand new jet boat the same day the lake froze over for winter.

All you can do is stare at it. Dream about how fast it might be. Think about all the fun you could have with it. Wish you could take it out just once.

But you can’t. So it just sits there, all shiny and bright and full of promise.

Till now. Six months after being named head coach of the Edmonton Oilers, Krueger finally gets to start coaching the Edmonton Oilers.

The lockout is over and the ice is off the lake.

Gentleman, start your engine.

“Welcome,” grinned Krueger, meeting the media for the first time since the Oilers placed him in charge of their future last June. “To the 2013 season.”

He admits it wasn’t easy waiting this long for the moment to arrive, but has been around coaching long enough to know that adversity comes with the territory.

“Difficulty and challenges are part of a leadership job,” he said. “This was a challenging situation. It was not easy to plan one week at a time when for the last 23 years I always had a yearly plan in front of me.

“It wasn’t always fun or easy, I’ll be honest with you, but I never felt that this wasn’t going to occur. I tried to stay optimistic that there was a season coming up and wanted to be best prepared. That kept my spirit up, to tell you the truth.

“If things would have gone another direction this week it would have been a lot more difficult to deal with.”

Krueger won’t have much time to prepare before the bullets start flying for real, though. The Oilers will be playing their first game of the regular season about a week after the first day of training camp.

“We’ve been told to prepare without any exhibition games,” he said. “The short camp will be a challenge, but we have a continuity here, a foundation that was built over the last two years.

“We’re not going to take the ship and turn it in another direction, we’re just going to make some adjustments with the sails and some of the things on board.

“We feel really comfortable with the short camp. I’ve had a calendar with a seven-day camp ready for two months now. The staff has been drilled on this for over two months now, we’re prepared for exactly what’s happening here.”

There have always been expectations surrounding the Oilers — unfortunately over the last six decade or so they’ve always been expected to fail. And with 25th, 19th, 21st, 30th, 30th and 29th place finishes since that trip to the 2006 final, they’ve more than lived down to them.

This time they’re expected to be good.

How good? Krueger says it helps that his top-end kids have been playing together in Oklahoma City, but also alerted the media to the startling revelation that Edmonton isn’t the only team in the NHL that had players playing during the lockout.

“I’d say we’re in the upper third of teams, when you look at players who were together,” he said. “You have teams like L.A. and Boston who have 11 players who played in Europe. There are a few teams that had over 10 players.

“But having players play together in a situation that counts, having our power play in OKC and an entire forward line down there, that is definitely a positive for us to tap into.”

There is also the other half of the team, which has been covered in rust since last April. Bringing those two groups together, quickly, will be his first major test.

“Half the group is going to be in mid-season form and half the group will be having contact for the first time in almost 81/2 months,” he said. “It’ll be an interesting leadership challenge to bring everyone to the same level.

“But it’s what it is, so let’s get ready to play. We’ve waited long enough.”